Abstract

With so much emphasis being given to the administrative data by the government, the National Statistics Bureau (NSB) has initiated the works on assessing the possibilities of using the existing administrative to produce Official Statistics. Amongst the administrative data holders, NSB started exploring the telecom data from the Bhutan Telecom to study if it could be used to make population estimates, and scanner data from some large convenience stores to produce or augment the Consumer Price Index etc.
Further, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has mandated NSB to assure that all administrative data that are being maintained by various government agencies for some purposes be of high quality with acceptable standards and more usable. Towards this effect, NSB together with the PMO has instituted “Strengthening Evidence-based Decision and Data Culture” as one of the Mandatory Indicator (MI) in Annual Performance Agreement (APA) of all relevant government agencies including the local administration (districts) in 2022 and this MI is being measured and evaluated at the yearend. This has greatly enhanced the availability of timely, relevant and reliable data and its use in planning and decision making.
In assuring the quality of the data produced, a set of guidelines developed together with the UNDESA and experts in a collaborative effort was shared to the administrative data holders to follow through.